Pages

Friday, February 19, 2010

The first tweetcom?

Well, if those f***ers want to piss away their money on a show about the s*** I say, just call me the W.C.

I dunno, that just sounds like the kind of s*** Justin Halpern's dad might say about the sitcom pilot based on Halpern's insanely popular Twitter feed and Facebook page, S*** My Dad Says. They've cast William Shatner -- brilliant! -- as Dad in what must be the first television show to emerge out of Twitter.

Twitter sensation S*** My Dad Says is becoming a TV pilot with William Shatner set to play the larger-than-life dad at the center of it.

The casting of Shatner lifts the contingency on CBS' multicamera family comedy project based on the Twitter account, which has enlisted more than 1.16 million followers since launching in August and has made its creator, Justin Halpern, an Internet star.

The pilot, executive produced by "Will & Grace" creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, was originally set up at CBS with a script commitment in November. Now, with Shatner on board, it has been greenlighted to pilot.

Halpern co-penned the script with Patrick Schumacker. Halpern and Schumacker co-exec produce the Warner Bros. TV-produced project whose title is expected to change if it goes to series.

Halpern, 29, had moved back in with his parents in San Diego, and on Aug. 3 he launched S*** My Dad Says, a Twitter feed featuring colorful -- often profane -- comments made by his 73-year-old father during their daily conversations.

SPECULATION IS that the suits will change the name of the show to something more TV friendly. The adolescent in me, though, hopes they don't.

Think of the potential marketing campaign and ads -- "Hey! Watch this S***!"

Maybe "We're talking S***. Fridays @ 9."

The Focus on the Family protests would be worth their weight in ratings gold. Am I a bad person for being able to see the marketing possibilities in this?

I don't feel particularly guilty about it, being that -- in my opinion, at least -- it would be several cultural steps up from, say, Gossip Girl.